Sincerity

Today this kid wrote a sincere thank you letter to me.
He wanted to thank me for being his friend.
For talking to him,
During our 7th period jazz band class.

He said he's never been so scared in his life
As when he came to the first rehearsal,
And a few rehearsals after that.
His thick black curly hair, thin shoulders and worried eyes. 
He proceeded to tell me how he was simply grateful
I started talking to him,
I was grateful he answered me.
He did this wide eyes stare that was slightly off putting
Like he was suprised a ghost just entered a room.
I joked about it to him,
teasingly asking him if he was, in fact, ok
On account of he looked scared,
I'd then mimic the face.
This became our little game.
We'd pass by in the hallway,
separate friend groups
different classes,
unrelated agendas
And he'd make this face at me, through his mask
And I'd return it instantly.
I knew it was fun,
Heck I greatly enjoyed it.
But reading his thank you note
Telling me I made a difference in his high school career
Simply for being kind to him,
Not a fake kind,
Not teacher-said-to-be kind
Not a back stabber kind.
Just kind,
Touched my heart.
Because that's what I set out to do in my high school career –
Be friends with people outside of my class.
Talk to kids a few grades below me.
Shake off the social stigma that
Who you hang out with determines your social hierarchy.
I wanted to take someone under my wing
And hide them from that awful stigma
resulting in hateful words and isolation.
I didn't mean to become his friend,
I just wanted to be nice,
But,
After that letter,
After reading it over and over and over again,
Swelling with pride and appreciation,
I am so glad I took the time to talk to that kid
To tease him
And create a mutual inside joke
That's now been running for months.

Today this kid wrote a sincere letter to me.
To thank me for being his friend.
And I want to write a letter back,
Because I didn't know my kindness would mean so much to him,
and little did he know
his letter would mean so much to me.